Latest News

Review: Story of Seasons (Nintendo 3DS)

As I booted up Story of Seasons for the first time, I was
greeted with a couple sentences that outlined the developers’ desire for
players to appreciate farm life and respect nature as a whole. A message that succinct
couldn’t reasonably articulate an impactful environmental message, regrettably,
but perhaps that feel-good spiel was what overrode my cynicism and got me on
the game’s wavelength. Season after season has gone by in-game but I find
myself rustling my pockets at any prospect of spare time for my portal to the
laid back town of Oak Tree.

If you haven’t been following Story of Seasons or the legal
reasons behind its name, it’s worth reiterating that it is, for all intents and
purposes, a Harvest Moon game under a new moniker. Should that brand’s name
value be lost on you, what’s important is that Story of Seasons is a farming
simulator with a social twist and a divine experience at that.

Despite seeing release months within Natsume’s Harvest Moon:The Lost Valley 3D, Marvelous’ Story of Seasons is poles apart in terms of
farming philosophy. The Lost Valley was a game that championed experimentation
but ultimately did so at the cost of the franchise’s fundamentals; both farming
and socialisation were woefully inadequate. To its credit, the game’s opening
hours threw players headfirst into constructing their own landscape and
provided enough tools to tantalise players so I expect it won over a particular
niche with great haste.

Story of Seasons is a decidedly slow burn by comparison and
I say this in the context of The Lost Valley and Harvest Moon as a whole. There’s
every chance you’ll invest over a dozen hours before assimilating a single
chicken, dog, or sheep into your mammalian ranks. Yet despite how immediately locked
up the world is from a technical perspective, its structure evokes an indefinable
fondness for the countryside, particularly if you’re a jaded city-dweller like
me.

Oak Tree Town’s construction is what won me over from the get
go. Its landscape of green pastures is broken up into several smaller regions
for the local farmers but it all feels more connected and cohesive than many
prior titles. Between all the space allotted to farmland and housing as well as
the gaps between points of interest, I found myself almost believing Oak Tree
Town was a real place citizens could dwell and not just an overly streamlined video
game representation. That’s not to say I require realism from a game where you
can potentially go years without food or water; rather, the homeyness is an
essential component of the charm in Story of Seasons.

My fondness for the landscape meant that daily trips to the
general store and the shipping booth had an air of excitement to them
regardless of how nonchalant the menial tasksI was performing actually were. Speaking of which, Story of
Seasons features some of the snappiest farming mechanics out there. The layout
of crops has been so simplified that you can set up a plot of land, plant nine
seeds, and water them all in fifteen seconds. This means that although you’re
going to be hard at work virtually every in-game day maintaining your routine
of caring for livestock and crops, the actions can be completed swiftly enough
to permit unseen levels of player exploration.

With that extra time and freedom comes an intriguing trade-off,
however. Story of Seasons features the typical system where your avatar’s
strength depletes throughout the day and through labour, so he or she will
collapse if overexerted, but you’re far more likely to crash in this game than
most others. Thus, there’s a certain finesse to living on the edge as you contemplate
whether to chuck those fresh turnips into the fridge, the shipping box, or directly
down the gullet. Thankfully, an optional easy mode lessens the impact of food
choice (as well as a good deal of the monetary grind) so players can pick freely
between a relaxing life and a more pressing one.

Story of Seasons is hardly starved for recreational
activities either. As if fishing alone wasn’t enough of a life-sapper, here you
can leap into bodies of water and nab them by hand or reach new areas to gather
materials. The game sports many similar features to Harvest Moon: A New
Beginning (albeit expanded here) and that’s a massive virtue in my estimation. The
level of customisation is off the charts as you can manipulate your farm, house,
character, and Oak Tree Town all to your taste. The character creation in particular is so
dynamic I had to resist the urge to mangle my poor avatar’s visage on a daily
basis with all that plastic surgery.

Story of Seasons further distinguishes itself with its
emphasis on international trading between various oddly-named countries. Various
stalls open for business at a town square to distribute items, animals,
blueprints, and other goodies. This is also the only real way to generate
income, however, as you cannot sell items any standard store. The drawback of
this is system is painfully obvious early on when you’re struggling to vend
your crops before they lose their freshness, but having to check the calendar
each day to plan does add a certain new wrinkle. Players have to be more
conscious of their calendars than a game like Rune Factory 4. Unlocking new
items and areas is made easier for social butterflies, too, so it’s pleasant
that Marvelous put together a memorable crowd brimming with potential marital
partners.

Beyond the expected assortment of activities and some captivating
natural progressions are a few novel multiplayer options. Socialisation with
actual human beings has never been this franchise’s strong suit and frankly,
the options for get-togethers are too restrictive to be of any lasting value. That
said, I reckon Marvelous could expand this to offer something reminiscent of
Animal Crossing’s relaxed Wi-Fi sessions that improves on its past efforts. That
would have been one method for Story of Seasons to truly catapult beyond its
predecessors and the Harvest Moon format would easily distinguish it from
Nintendo’s life sim.

Story of Seasons isn’t the farming franchise’s next evolution
by any stretch, but it’s a solid indicator that Marvelous accepts what makes
the franchise work in the first place, particularly in the face of past efforts
that tried to get creative in all the wrong areas. The series has almost always
been about players kicking off life as a fledgling farmer in a small town and
giving them the reigns so as to be the arbiters of their own fates through
important decisions like marriage. It’s a traditional formula that has been
altered to include all the premium trimmings that enhance the mood
exponentially. After all, tone may be one of the best things this franchise has
going for it.

I suspect a chunk of Harvest Moon’s veterans will skip Story
of Seasons on account of its general resemblance to prior entries, but that would
be a real gaffe since Story of Seasons is one of the finest iterations in years.
While it lacks the outright ambition present in Natsume’s recent interpretation
of the franchise, it utterly nails the atmosphere and offers impeccable trimmings
that just might win over fans experiencing barnyard burnout. It goes without
saying that those uninitiated in the ways of life on the virtual ranch had best
brace themselves for hundreds of hours to be sapped away. Marvelous’ latest flaunts
that irresistible charisma that attracted me to the series in the first place.

Play-Asia Reviews

Anime

Buy my book; Game Art (By No Starch Press)!

Digitally Downloaded editor-in-chief, Matt Sainsbury, has written a book about games as works of art, from America to Japan, Australia to Europe. Accompanied by gorgeous, high quality art and interviews with over 20 of the world's best game creators, this book is a collector's piece for fans of all kinds of games!